July tea crop down 4.38%

Sri Lanka has recorded a crop of 24.1 MKGS in July, 2012, which is a month-on-month decline of 4.38% when compared to last year’s July crop of 25.1 MKGS.

The highest deficit for the month under review is once again from the High Grown sector which has shown a negative variance of 2.2 MKGS, followed by Medium elevation teas with a drop of 0.8 MKGS. Analysing the year-to-date position, a massive shortfall of 7.3 MKGS has been recorded from the High Grown plantations followed by a deficit of 1.4 MKGS from the Medium elevation teas. The Low Grown sector has however performed better than last year with a year to date gain of 1 MKGS. Reviewing the overall production for the first seven months of the year, there is a shortfall of 7.6 MKGS, year-on-year. Please see elevation wise details given below.

High Grown plantations continue to receive poor intakes of green leaf following the failure of the south west monsoon. The change in the weather pattern we have seen this year with dull and overcast skies and no rainfall has severely impeded growth and plantations in the High and Medium elevations have been particularly vulnerable. The Low Grown tea plants are much younger than those in the higher elevations, and have so far been able to withstand drought conditions to some extent, but current reports indicate less crops being harvested in the Low Grown estates as well, following a prolonged period of drought and the consequent rise in temperatures which are indeed a planters nightmare! (Source: Lanka Commodity Brokers Ltd).